Pockie Sick!
by Ster J
Summary: As Spock recovers after giving his father the blood transfusion in "Journey to Babel," Amanda relates to Nurse Chapel a tale from Spock's childhood.


Title: Pockie Sick!  
Author: Ster Julie

Codes: Baby Spock, Amanda

Rating: G

Summary: As Spock recovers after giving his father the blood transfusion in "Journey to Babel," Amanda relates to Nurse Chapel a tale from Spock's childhood.

A/N: Thanks to Jean Lorrah for use of her character Dr. Daniel Corrigan.

This is NOT part of my "After the Credits" series, but "Journey to Babel" is just a rich tale that I just find myself returning to its well for inspiration.

Also, it is only coincidence that I post this following the news of Leonard Nimoy's "minor abdominal surgery." Who knew that I had a premonition of his illness?

—ooOoo—

(Flasback in _italics_)

_Something woke me up that morning and hour before sunrise. I eased from the bed and padded quietly to the nursery._

_In the soft glow from the nightlight, I saw my precious boy sitting up in his crib, cradling his stuffed bear and crooning to it. I smiled at the sight._

_My smile soon faded as I drew nearer and caught a whiff of a smell so foul that it almost prevented me from entering. I held my breath and pushed open the door fully._

_Spock raised fever bright eyes and apple green cheeks to me and proclaimed, "Pockie sick, Mama."_

_My eyes fell to the mess in the crib and on my son's sleeper. He sat near a puddle of puke and, by the smell, no doubt sat in a diaper full of loose stool._

"_Sarek!" I called loudly._

_My staid husband was at my side in mere seconds. His hand flew to his face at the smell._

"_Yes, _Aduna_," he said from behind his hand._

"_Please bring me a bath towel and then call Doctor Corrigan," I requested. "Spock is ill."_

"_Obviously," Sarek muttered as he complied, retreating quickly._

"_Pockie sick," my baby repeated before he puked again._

_I used a clean corner of Spock's bed sheet to wipe his face and hands. I pulled open his ruined sleeper and peeled it from him, using it to wipe as much from his legs and backside. Then I wrapped him in the clean towel and moved him to the bathing area._

_Spock started crying when I sprayed warm water on him. "Hurt, Mama!" he cried._

_It was then that I noticed the rash. This was more serious than I'd thought!_

_As I was drying my son and wrapping him in a new towel, Doctor Corrigan arrived. Spock noticed him first._

"_Dan-yoh," he moaned, "Pockie sick."_

"_Oh, poor baby," Daniel replied. He put his hand to Spock's forehead and then examined the rash on his little arms and belly. After running his medical scanner and studying it for a few seconds, Doctor Corrigan put what looked like an old-fashioned pacifier into Spock's mouth. My baby latched on to it, rested his head on Daniel's shoulder and went right to sleep. I realized then that the doctor had administered some kind of medication with that pacifier._

"_His temperature is 40˚C," Daniel reported, "and he will need intravenous fluids. "It looks like he has the Vulcan version of measles, one of those diseases we were unable to inoculate Spock against. I'll take him in and start the IV. That will help bring down his fever. I'm afraid we'll only be able to treat the symptoms and ride this one out."_

_I knew the drill. We had already been through this several times before with Spock and knew what to expect, but that didn't make it any easier._

"_I'll come with you after I throw on some clothes," I offered._

_Daniel shook his head. "Take your time," he said. "By the time the two of you get cleaned up, this might be resolved. You know where to find us." At that, the doctor beamed out with our son._

_Sadly, I knew exactly where Doctor Corrigan was taking my baby. Poor Spock had been to the medical center before with all sorts of childhood illnesses that any full-blooded Vulcan or human child would have been vaccinated against. Spock had also been to the medical center with various food- and drug-related reactions. Daniel always pulled my baby through those crises. I trusted him to be successful this time, too._

"He was obviously successful," Nurse Chapel observed.

I smiled warmly as I smoothed Spock's hair as he slept.

"By the time Sarek and I had cleaned up and arrived at the medical center, Spock had already received a unit of fluid. We found him sitting in a hospital crib holding a new bear in his arms.

"Do you know that my fastidious husband _vaporized_ Spock's soiled clothing instead of washing it? I had to purchase a new sleeper and a new set of linens for a bed that he only used for two more months. Such waste!

"Anyway, when we arrived at the room, we found Spock rocking his new bear and humming to it. When he saw us as the door, my sweet boy looked up at us and smiled. 'Pockie better,' he announced. It turned out that he didn't have the measles after all. It was just an allergic reaction to a new food."

Spock moved restlessly on the bed and moaned. He had had a delayed reaction the medications Doctor McCoy had given him before the blood transfusion for Sarek. Spock's blood chemistry had become so unbalanced during that ordeal that drastic steps had to be taken to quickly remove the drug from his system. Spock had been given something to help him sleep while his blood was being filtered and replaced.

I raked my fingers through my son's hair to soothe him. "Aw," I sing-songed, "is Pockie sick?" I heard Nurse Chapel stifle a giggle as Spock nodded weakly. "You'll be all better by morning. Go back to sleep."

Spock nodded again and drifted back to sleep. I leaned over and kissed his forehead. No matter hold old Spock got, he'd always be my baby.

-END-


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